Karel DE COCK

Accepting the Image Experimental doc. | dv, HD | color | 18'12'' | Belgium | 2010 “Accepting The Image” portrays the way New York City women, their dreams and their lifestyles are represented in the media and in reality. The film questions this dual relationship between both worlds by sketching the portraits of Alynn, Lindsey and Holly, three young women who recently moved to the city. Filled with certain dreams and expectations, they each tell us what New York means to them and what their motivations were to go live there. As it appears, their incentives seem to blend with the image of the city as it is depicted in their favourite movies and television series. Some of the girls try to live up to the fiction, while others have already been confronted with a somewhat different reality. An observing camera sketches a feminine image of the streets of New York. The girls` story provides a direct comment to this and offers a critical perspective on the way young women in general identify with this and their idols representing it. “Accepting The Image” questions the adoration of certain media and its consequences. Karel De Cock °1982: Lives in Brussels and studied Audiovisual arts at the Sint-Lukas Institute in Brussels. In 2008 he received his Bachelor degree with his film “Resonance” (2008). The film has been selected by various festivals e.g. Rencontres Internationales (FR), Transmediale 09 festival (DE) and Migrating Forms (New York Underground Film Festival). In 2009 he was selected for an exchange program with Beijing where he shot “A Beijing Tale”, which was shown at Europalia China and The Beijing Student Film Festival. He graduated in the master department in 2010 with the film “Accepting The Image” for which he spend 3 and a half months in New York City. His films are character based and situate themselves in the search and recovery of identity and relations. He has a background in the traditional fiction genre but since Resonance he finds himself crossing the borders of both fiction and documentary. He finished his studies as a bachelor in the fiction department with guidance from Patrice Toye and graduated in the master department of documentary with guidance from Herman Asselberghs & Rob Rombout Artist statement The Impact that the media image of New York City had on me from an early age on was the motivation for making this film. I was not familiar with this city, I had never been there, but still I felt incredibly attracted to it. It’s this image from the media that became the subject of this film together with the feminine image visible in the streets of New York. The city has an aura originating from dreams and expectations attributed through the media, and she projects it to the outside world. It’s within this context that I looked for a dramatic structure. This film is my reflection on the interaction between the media and reality. The specific feminine image that is visible in parts of the city was of interest to me because of it’s reference to the image in the media. In what way do media influence this image and it’s lifestyle that is visible on the streets of New York City? Is there an interaction between the media and reality? And how can I portray this in a dramatic structure? Ever since the ’30 there’s a social reality present in both film and television which for most people is completely out of reach. People had no interest in seeing themselves represented in the media in times of economical crisis. They were not looking for a mirror that reflected their reality but rather for one that transformed it into something better. They wanted to identify themselves with characters from another social reality then their own. The film and television industry offered this by showing them a rich and luxurious lifestyle. The audience identified themselves with characters portraying an over-simplified fictional life and suggesting that a ‘Happy Ending’ was within everyone’s reach. Hollywood invented a dream image which was represented by their movie stars and celebrities. Something they still do until this very day. In this film I portray the fictional social reality of this feminine image together with the ‘dream’ image of New York City. I do this by sketching three characters and by creating a dramatic contrast between the ‘dream’ some Americans have when moving to New York and the reality of the city.